The difficulty with just looking at a few Bible verses is that there are almost always others that don't quite line up. We of course cannot simply throw them out, so, we can find ourselves trying to reinterpret one or the other passage in the light of these.

The following passages describe a view that does not downplay the physical realm. Instead, it sets up a view that there is both a spiritual reality and a physical reality, and they are both very real. Both have eternal impact. Everything is either initiated by or permitted by God, and he is not bound by physical or spiritual laws.

Scriptural stumbling blocks that must be accounted for

The purpose of creation

The first big anomaly is that the whole reason for creating a physical world was to "show the manifold wisdom of God...to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 3:10). This is a completely different understanding of the world than the New Age version.

This glory is partly the physical beauty of God's creation:

It's partly how the physical world shows God's otherwise invisible attributes:

It's partly the beauty and blessing of the gospel itself, physically acted out:

We too are to show God's glory:

So the physical is far from an illusion. The physical world is very purposely made to demonstrate God's goodness, greatness, and glorious attributes, in multiple ways.

What we see here is an interconnected reality between the spirit and the physical, in a way which never minimises the physical.

The order of events

Furthermore, if everything happens in the spirit first, that's directly contradicted by the writer of Hebrews who states: "Even angels long to look into these things" (1 Peter 1:12)—talking about the events of the gospel. They couldn't, because the events hadn't took place yet.

When God orders events, from his throne in the spirit, they may be sent by angels and thus happen afterwards. But this is not because the physical world is somehow governed by spiritual laws and therefore has to respond to them. Rather, it is because God directs people to do what he wants them to do (Proverbs 16:9).

Physical things happen not because they first happened in the spirit, but because God wanted them to happen in the physical, and sovereignly made it occur that way (Isaiah 46:10).

God's will

Put another way, God is the one who predestines all things (Ephesians 1:4-11; Romans 8:28-30), so that's why anything that might happen in the spirit first happens—not because we haven't activated it or realised it.

And this is why we pray: because God has ultimate sovereignty. Whatever he says goes (Psalm 115:3). God is the centre of the universe—not some force such as a spiritual law that binds it all together.

Different interpretations, verse by verse

Circling back to the initial verses that seemed to support Word Faith theology, let's reinterpret them.

The physical is an illusion; or, the physical is not the end?

Paul says "we live by faith, not by sight" in the context of being confident that we would receive a new heavenly body in the life to come, by the faith that comes from having the Holy Spirit deposited in us. What he sees currently is a dying body, so he has to trust in God regarding this (2 Corinthians 5:1-7).

So rather than teaching the idea that our physical reality is an illusion, Paul is teaching that we ought to place our hope in the physical-spiritual life to come. There's more to life than what we currently see! It's not the end of all things—there's more!

Furthermore, while our present reality is a burden, it has real, eternal consequences as "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (5:10).

We are healed in the spiritual realm; or, we are healed in God's time?

Understanding that God has predestined all things, "we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5) can just as easily mean that there is an appointed time that God has determined to heal people, just as there is an appointed time that God has determined to save people.

When we think about the sovereignty of God, the illustration that God has created a movie, and he is outside time and space and moving scenes around, is apt. So we can say with finality events that are set in stone from the beginning—but it has nothing to do with the New Age idea of spirit-primacy, and everything to do with God's sovereign video skills!

Jesus' atonement brings healing now; or, Jesus' atonement brings healing now, but not yet?

Looking at it from the perspective of what Jesus accomplished in his life, death and resurrection, we can see that:

1. Jesus' life provided an example for us to follow;

2. Jesus' death satisfied the Father's wrath against our sin, which does away with the reason for his curse on the world: where decay, turmoil and disease entered;

3. Jesus' resurrection defeated death, showed the demonic who was boss, providing hope for a resurrected body;

Taken together, these events initiated the kingdom of heaven on earth, that we are called to participate in (may your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven, Matthew 6:10).

However, this was just the beginning, from where we see glimpses and reflections of the kingdom, but not the fullness. So healing of disease is dealt with by Jesus, as with a lot of other things, but as with all of them, none of them are fully realised yet. They'll only be fully realised when Jesus comes again and brings in the new heavens and new earth (see series on the Mission of the Church).

So just like there still is death, there still are demons, there still is decay in creation, and turmoil in work, and ill-character in people, there is also disease. As Christians we expect that God would break through all these areas from time to time, but not fully. If the fullness were now, why do we still die? Why does the world still break down? Why are there Christians with bad character? Why do long-term health issues plague even the most full-of-faith Word Faith Christians? Simply put, we are not in the kingdom just yet. We should put our hope not in this world, but in the world to come.

We are healed despite what we see; or, we are sick in reality?

Instead of talking about Epaphroditus as being healed already, Paul says he was ill (Philippians 2:27). Instead of counseling Timothy to consider himself well, he asks him to drink a little wine for his stomach and frequent illnesses (1 Timothy 5:23). Our present physical situation is our reality.

The fact that our physical bodies are temporary does not change that fact. We don't place ultimate hope in our present reality, but that doesn't change the seriousness of the tasks that God has given us while we're here.

The physical flesh wars against the spirit; or, sinful desires war against Holy Spirit desires?

In Romans (particularly Romans 6-8), Paul is not setting the physical against the spiritual. He is explaining that we could never by ourselves fulfill the requirements of the law—all that achieved was condemnation, because we continually break it. Walking in the flesh is being empowered and enslaved by sin. Instead, with Christ, we are set free from this curse of condemnation, and instead enslaved to righteous acts (e.g. Romans 6:12-14).

Crucially, our deeds remain physical. But the Spirit's righteousness now flows through us, instead of demonic unrighteousness. When we become Christian, we are set free from a desire to sin, and are given new desires to please God (Romans 6:15-20).

We were made to be in relationship with God, through the Spirit, by the Son. Acting in the flesh disconnects us from God's life giving Spirit, but in no way makes the physical realm against the spirit realm. It's clearly not a good idea to be "in the flesh", but when we "live in accordance with the spirit" (Romans 8:5), we are still living and acting in the physical world. The difference is that we are governed by the Spirit, and therefore able to please God (8:6-8). So being in the flesh is being governed by demonic impulses to live a sinful life, and being in the Spirit is being governed by the Spirit's impulses to live a holy life. Both of these establish a principle that what we're plugged into spiritually, gives us direction in the physical. It's not cause and effect, but the spirit realm does give us vision and direction—for good or ill.

Warfare is solely spiritual; or, warfare is spiritual, argumentative, and physical?

While we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, a big component of our spiritual warfare is nevertheless very physical.

Paul teaches that we war with divine power to demolish arguments and thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). This comes out as physical in his writings, as well as his conversations and arguments with people (yes, he used his intellect in a godly way!).

In Ephesians, it is very similar. We stand with truth, righteous deeds, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Bible (Ephesians 6:13-17)—as well as prayer (6:18-19). (See What is Spiritual Warfare and how does it involve a clash of ideas.)

The Devil believed he won when he killed Jesus physically.

Taken together, these present a very interactive border between the physical and the spiritual. They do not teach an illusory, bad, or inferior physical world. Rather, it shows a physical-spiritual reality that God uses in different ways, all for his glory.

The physical doesn't matter; or, the physical matters?

Furthermore, what happens in the physical world affects the spirit world just as much as what happens in the spiritual affects the physical. Jesus said "it is finished" on the cross, and so it is wholly speculation to add the idea, as some Word Faith preachers add, that Jesus then died a spiritual death in hell. That begs the question, was it not finished? Was the physical death not enough?

This idea is only required to fit with the anti-biblical view that the physical world is an illusion and does not matter. When we dispense with that idea, we don't need to fill in critical gaps in the Bible's theology, and change what is perhaps the most core doctrine of our faith. (Bit of a red flag don't you think?)

It was never about the action being done in the spirit as opposed to the physical. And it was never about the Devil—he was never in charge, and never will be. It was always about God's wrath being averted from us and being taken by Jesus, so that God could be both just and the justifier of the wicked (Romans 3:24-26).

Further corrective angles

There are different angles that Word Faith followers do not consider.

Considering how God judges us

God will judge us as one person, however you consider we are made: spirit, soul and body, or just spirit and body. Speaking to Christians, Paul says:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:10, NIV)

If the physical was an illusion, why would we be judged for the physical actions we do? Wouldn't it be more consistent to talk about judging our spiritual deeds?

There is no division, though different parts of us have different function. What we do physically has spiritual consequences, because 'we' are more than just spirits. The real us is our full self: body, soul and spirit.

Considering the faith-action dynamic

James illustrates the connection a number of ways:

So even though when our body dies, and it is our spirit that lives on and is judged, God will judge us by our physical (as well as immaterial) actions.

Furthermore, since reality is found in the physical (as well as the spiritual), faith without action is dead. If instead James wanted to convey the idea that the spiritual realm causes the physical realm, the only action required would be believe whatever you were praying for and confessing was already done. It would not need to be acted out in the flesh.

Instead, James is saying that you can show your faith by your deeds (James 2:18). That actually starts in the physical, and subsequently has spiritual consequences.

Conclusion

There are quite a number of gaping holes in the Word Faith understanding of our spiritual-physical dynamic.

What's clear is that Word Faith preachers have got their understanding directly from New Age doctrine, and have attempted to force that into the Bible. It won't fit, and we really do need a different model to see our reality correctly.

To that end, let's re-examine the Bible with fresh eyes, and build a biblical metaphysical understanding.